Climate Change, Flooding Cause Change To Louisiana Map

The state of Louisiana's map is changing because of massive flooding and climate change.

During the past 80 years, waters from the Gulf of Mexico have covered nearly 2,000 square miles, an area about the size of Rhode Island, of Louisiana's' land, according to Big Think.

And with recent floods causing widespread damage in the Bayou State, more attention is being focused on the effect climate change is having for the millions of people who live there.

“Climate change has already been shown to increase the amounts of rain falling in the most intense events across many parts of the world, and extreme rainfall events like this week’s Louisiana storm are expected to grow increasingly common in the coming years,” the Weather Underground’s Bob Henson and Jeff Masters wrote on Aug. 15, when floods ravaged the state.

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Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that global warming has increased the chances of intense rains in Louisiana by at least 40 percent.

“But it’s probably much closer to a doubling of the probability” of more massive floods, said Heidi Cullen, chief scientist for Climate Central, the research organization that coordinated the study, reported the New York Times.

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“Climate change played a very clear and quantifiable role,” she added.

Lloyd “Wimpy” Serigne grew up in Delacroix, a fishing village 20 miles southeast of New Orleans, according to a 2014 article from Scientific American.

Delacroix was once home to 700 people, but now no more than 15 people live there permanently.

“I see what was," Serigne said. "People today -- like my nephew, he's pretty young -- he sees what is," indicating that his nephew sadly don't understand what's been lost.